4 Rooms That Make Use of Glass Bricks to Experiment With Light And Shadow

As glass bricks undergo another renaissance, our articles contain four designs that demonstrate how transparent brickwork can brighten any environment, even tiny bathrooms and corridors.

Glass blocks were designed and popularised in the 1930s by Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo, as seen in Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre and Villa Stenersen. They drifted in and out of favour throughout the following decades.

The hollow bricks, which show and hide at the same time, were a favourite of Japanese architect Tadao Ando, who used them to build the internal courtyard of his Ichihara House and the front of Horiuchi House, both of which were designed in 1979.

After falling out of favour during their 1980s heyday, we’ve gathered a handful of modern interior projects for this post that have resurrected the style.

1. Maido, UK, by Child Studio

Child Studio set out to give tribute to the building’s late-modernist beginnings when it turned a 1960s post office in London’s Saint John’s Wood into a sushi restaurant. In this sushi restaurant, Child Studio employed a glass block wall, dark cherry wood panelling, and a light blue coffered ceiling to evoke 1960s London. This is accomplished through the use of dark cherry wood panelling, a soft-blue coffered ceiling, and a semi-circular wall of glass blocks, the curve of which fits a spacious, leather-upholstered alcove seat.

2. Optical Glass House, Japan, by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

This house and its planted courtyard are separated from the bustling streets of downtown Hiroshima by a two-story wall constructed of 6,000 specially crafted glass bricks, projecting shadows and refractions into the living areas beyond. A tree-filled courtyard can be seen through the gleaming glass-brick exterior of this Hiroshima home created by Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakamura. The parlour and dining room each have pocket doors that open entirely into the garden, making the tall glass wall feel like part of the interior.

3. Maryland House, UK, by Remi Connolly-Taylor

Remi Connolly-Taylor created Maryland House in London as her personal house and studio, complete with a glass brick walled stairway. The brick house, located at the end of a row of terraced houses in east London, was intended as a residence with a separate workstation for Connolly-Taylor, the founder of London studio Remi CT. Glass bricks were also utilised to build the railing of the neighbouring balcony, providing seclusion from the exterior while allowing sunlight to enter the two bright-white bedrooms.

4. Buckle Street Studios, UK, by Grzywinski+Pons

Grzywinski+Pons, headquartered in New York, has built a hotel in east London for the Locke group, replete with glass block walls and a co-working mezzanine. The upper floors of the Buckle Street Studios hotel in east London are surrounded by a glass-brick exterior with radiused corners, giving the building the appearance of a shining lantern at night. The New York-based design firm responsible for both the exterior and interiors embraced these curves in the guest rooms by integrating custom-made furniture with a matching radius to fit into those rounded corners.

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